Real-world advice for the PhD journey (c) Liena Vayzman, PhD

Coney Island of the Mind

Dear Dissertation Diva,

You know that hot dog eating contest on Coney Island? Whenever I open the file of the final chapter of my dissertation, I feel like I've eaten 180 hot dogs. I can't stand to even see one more hot dog. The whole dissertation enterprise currently feels like a giant block. Writing is like excreting blood drop by drop. I'll just stare at the page and can't move forward. It has been like that for two weeks. I've gotten through writing block in the past, but as I get closer to the final deadline, I am deadeningly bored and tired from the process. It's like quicksand. How do I gather the superhuman strength to push out a dozen more pages of complete sentences?

Signed,

Mired and Tired

Dear Mired,

Are you sure you're not Sarah Bernhardt? This is 11th hour high drama! Excreting blood drop by drop? Gothic!

Please take my advice and take a break lest you get anemic from blood loss. A full day to frolic and have fun will not only replenish your iron reserves, but break the monotony of your pattern and shock your system back into writing. Imagine how precious a full day of writing really is when you have only a few weeks to go! A couple of hours of mindless holiday window shopping in the cold should click something on in your brain that says, "I am just a dozen pages and some breezy edits away from being Dr. Mired. I must re-energize for the final push."

Besides taking a daylong break: If you find yourself zoning out in front of the page or screen again, stand up, stretch, jump up and down, do jumping jacks -- physical activity will reboot your writing brain.

Comments

Hi Diva

Enjoy the blog. I can vouch for the efficacy of taking a day (or more in some cases) off from writing. And the more self-indulgent, relaxing things help the most. Like shoes. Or massages. Or a day in bed with junk food and [insert favorite tv series name] DVDs.

I'm a mom, a blogger, and a Ph.D. student, and I need your help. I'm doing a study about why women blog, and you have been selected at random to participate in a short survey about what motivates you to blog and what you get out of blogging.

I hope you will take it by clicking this link. Please do not forward the link.

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/231228/women-bloggers

Thanks in advance for your help. Feel free to contact me at gmmasull@syr.edu if you have any questions.

Gina Chen
Ph.D. student
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
Syracuse University